Sunday, October 14, 2012

Festivals Celebrated in the Month of October

10. Tübingen Duck Race

Every year since 1999 over 7000 yellow rubber ducks are let loose in
River Necker that courses through this historic town near Stuttgart in
Germany. This is almost a third of the city population. The competition
starts at midday and anyone with a rubber duck can participate; and if
you left yours at home in the bathtub, ducks can be rented before the
race. Spectators stick their name and number on the ducks, release the
toy in the water and cheer along the riverbank as the mass of yellow bob
up and down the designated stretch of the Neckar. A metal weight is
attached to their underside so that they don’t topple over on the way.
The ducks race from Alleenbrücke to Neckarbrücke is taken very
seriously, because there is €10.000 worth of prizes to be won.

The duck race is on this Saturday, October 6.

09. Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest is a celebration of Bavarian beer from Munich’s finest
breweries. Each year, around six million liters of beer is consumed
along with approximately 300,000 pork sausages, 600,000 roast chickens
and 80 roast ox. Only beer from Munich’s six select breweries is sold in
the 14 large tents, served by beer maids carrying armfuls at a time.
Aside from beer there are traditional German amusements, folk costumes,
traditional music and marching bands, fair ground rides and parades to
name but a few. More pictures of Oktoberfest 2012.

08. Pushkar Camel Fair

The annual five-day Pushkar Fair is held in the town of Pushkar in the
state of Rajasthan, India. The fair attracts hundreds of Rabadi herdsmen
who buy and sell many thousands of camels here each year. The camels
are decorated with colorful bits of clothes and papers for trading, and
there are camel races and even camel beauty parades to take part in as
well.

It is one of the world's largest camel fairs, and apart from buying and
selling of livestock it has become an important tourist attraction and
its highlights have become competitions such as the "matka phod",
"longest moustache", and "bridal competition". In recent years the fair
has also included an exhibition cricket match between the local Pushkar
club and a team of random foreign tourists.

07. Halloween

Halloween is observed around the world on October 31, the eve before the
Western Christian feast of All Hallows. Halloween is thought to have
originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people
would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts. Over
time, Halloween evolved into a secular, community-based event
characterized by child-friendly activities such as trick-or-treating and
pumpkin carving.

Children go from house to house dressed at witches and ghouls, asking
for treats with the question, “Trick or treat?” The word "trick" refers
to a (mostly idle) "threat" to perform mischief on the homeowners or
their property if no treat is given. In this custom the child performs
some sort of trick, i.e. sings a song or tells a ghost story, to earn
their treats.

Because the holiday comes in the wake of the annual apple harvest, candy
apples (known as toffee apples outside North America), caramel or taffy
apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in a
sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts.

Diwali

Diwali or Dipawali popularly known as the "festival of lights," is the
most well-known of the Hindu festivals. The name "Diwali" is a
contraction of "Deepavali" which translates into "row of lamps". Diwali
involves the lighting of small clay lamps filled with oil to signify the
triumph of good over evil. These lamps are kept on during the night and
one's house is cleaned, both done in order to make the goddess Lakshmi,
the goddess of wealth, feel welcome. The festival is celebrated through
festive fireworks, lights, flowers, sharing of sweets, and worship. The
festival of Diwali extends over five days, and because of the lights,
fireworks and sweets involved, it's a great favourite with children.

Diwali signifies many different things to people across the country. In
north India, Diwali celebrates Rama's homecoming, that is his return to
Ayodhya after the defeat of Ravana and his coronation as king; in
Gujarat, the festival honors Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth; and in
Bengal, it is associated with the goddess Kali. Everywhere, it signifies
the renewal of life, and accordingly it is common to wear new clothes
on the day of the festival; similarly, it heralds the approach of winter
and the beginning of the sowing season. I am not counting Diwali
festival in October coz this time Diwali is in Nov.

06. Navratri

Navratri is a festival dedicated to the worship of a Hindu deity Shakti.
The word Navaratri literally means nine nights in Sanskrit, nava
meaning nine and ratri meaning nights.[2] During these nine nights and
ten days, nine forms of Shakti/Devi are worshiped. The 10th day is
commonly referred to as Vijayadashami or Dussehra."

The Navaratri commences on the first day (pratipada) of the bright
fortnight of the lunar month of Ashvin. The festival is celebrated for
nine nights once every year during the beginning of October, although as
the dates of the festival are determined according to the lunar
calendar, the festival may be held for a day more or a day
less. Navarathri is celebrated in different ways throughout India. In
North India, all three Navaratris are celebrated with much fervor by
fasting on all nine days and worshiping the Mother Goddess in her
different forms. The Chaitra Navratri culminates in Ram Navami and the
Sharad Navaratri culminates in Durga Puja and Dussehra. The Dussehra of
Kullu in Himachal Pradesh is particularly famous in the North. Navratri
festival in Gujarat is one of the main festivals. Garba is dance which
people use to dance after the Durga Pooja with the groups and live
orchestra or devotional songs.

05. Dussehra Festival

Dussehra, also known as Vijayadashami, is one of the most important
festivals celebrated in various forms, across India, Nepal and
Bangladesh. Dussehra is derived from Sanskrit Dasha-hara meaning
"remover of bad fate" which signifies the slaying of the demon king
Ravana by Lord Rama.

Dasara is celebrated on the tenth day of the Hindu autumn lunar month of
Ashvin, or Ashwayuja which falls in September or October of the Western
calendar. The first nine days are celebrated as Maha Navratri and
culminates on the tenth day as Dussehra.

During these 10 days many plays and dramas based on the Hindu epic
Ramayana are performed. There are outdoor fairs and large parades with
effigies of Ravana. Actors dressed as Rama, Sita and Rama’s brother
Lakshmana re-enact the final moments of the battle to free Sita from
Ravana. Rama shoots a flaming arrow at the effigies and the crowd cheers
as the effigies explode with fireworks and flames.

04. Phuket Vegetarian Festival

Phuket Vegetarian Festival is a colorful and rather gruesome event held
over a nine-day period in October, celebrating the Chinese community's
belief that abstinence from meat and various stimulants during the ninth
lunar month of the Chinese calendar will help them obtain good health
and peace of mind.

Though the origins of the festival are unclear, it is commonly thought
that the festival was bought to Phuket, Thailand, by a wandering Chinese
opera group who fell ill with malaria while performing on the island.
They decided to adhere to a strict vegetarian diet and pray to the Nine
Emperor Gods to ensure purification of the mind and body. To everyone's
amazement the opera group made a complete recovery. Upon their recovery
the people celebrated by holding a festival that was meant to honour the
gods as well as express the people's happiness at surviving what was,
in the 19th century, a fatal illness.

One of the most exciting aspects of the festival are the various, (and
sometimes gruesome) ceremonies which are held to invoke the gods.
Firewalking, body piercing and other acts of self mortification
undertaken by participants acting as mediums of the gods, have become
more spectacular and daring as each year goes by. Men and women puncture
their cheeks with various items including knives, skewers and other
household items. It is believed that the Chinese gods will protect such
persons from harm, and little blood or scarring results from such
mutilation acts. This is definitely not recommended for the faint
hearted to witness.

In 2011 some 74 people were injured with one death reported. Injuries
are usually sustained from the indiscriminate use of firecrackers so
beware of this pitfall and stay well away from this deafening and
sometimes frightening aspect of the Vegetarian Festival.

03. Naga Fireball Festival

Naga Fireballs is a mysterious event that takes place every year in
Thailand. Locally known as “bung fai paya nak” the phenomenon which is
seen in the Mekong river involves hundreds and thousands of glowing
fireballs that rise out from the water high into the air. The balls are
reddish and have diverse size from smaller sparkles up to the size of
basketballs. They quickly rise up to a couple of hundred metres before
disappearing.

Local people say that they have seen the fireballs throughout their
lives and their parents and grandparents did as well, but in earlier
times they did not pay much attention to this phenomenon. The festival
related to the observation of Naga fireballs gained popularity in the
1990s and is named Bang Fai Phaya Nark festival. Since the 2000s this
festival has obtained international fame and is actively promoted by the
authorities of Thailand.

Traditionally it is believed that the balls come from the breath of
Naga, a mythical serpent that haunts the river. While no plausible
explanation exist, some believe that fireballs are actually pockets of
methane bubbling up from the river that spontaneously ignite.

Video

02. Okunchi Matsuri

Regarded as among the most unusual festivals in Japan, the Okunchi
Festival in Nagasaki dates back to the 17th century, when many Chinese
lived in the city and when both Dutch and Chinese traders regularly
anchored their ships there. For many years, the ruling shogun of Japan
barred foreigners from other Japanese ports, and the few Dutch and
Chinese ships that were allowed to stop in Nagasaki were the country's
only point of contact with the non-Japanese world. The Okunchi Festival
pays tribute to these traders by presenting both a Dutch dance and a
Chinese dragon dance, along with processions, street fairs, and other
entertainment.

The Dutch and Chinese dances are performed in an open area at the
beginning of the many stairs that go to the Suwa Shrine. Two young women
execute the Dutch dance, one of whom wears a false mustache and plays
the part of a man. The two dancers bend at the waist, exchange coy
smiles, and flirt with each other, to the amusement of the crowd. The
Chinese dance features four dragons made out of cloth stretched over
flexible frames. Each dragon conceals about a dozen dancers, who help it
"dance" with snakelike motions by maneuvering the black rods attached
to its body. The dragon dance reenacts the legendary battle between
darkness, symbolized by the dragon, and light, symbolized by the sun—a
golden globe atop a long pole. Needless to say, the sun always wins.

01. Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival also known by various names such as the Moon
Festival or Chinese Lantern Festival or Mooncake Festival or Zhongqiu
Festival, is a popular lunar harvest festival celebrated by Chinese and
Vietnamese people. The festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth
month in the Chinese calendar, which is in September or early October in
the Gregorian calendar, when the moon is at its maximum brightness.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a day of family reunions much like
Thanksgiving. Chinese people believe that on that day, the moon is the
roundest and brightest signaling a time of completeness and abundance.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, children are delighted to stay up past
midnight, parading multi-colored lanterns into the wee hours as families
take to the streets to moon-gaze.

Special kind of sweet pastry cake is made in the shape of the moon, and
filled with a sweet paste made from sesame seeds, lotus seeds or red
beans. Lobster and salmon are particular favorites along with apples,
pomegranates, roasted peanuts, pomelo, and chestnuts.

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